Administrator tells members Yukon Employees' Union leadership was dysfunctional

Administrator tells members Yukon Employees' Union leadership was dysfunctional

Public Service Alliance of Canada held a virtual town hall meeting to share details of Yukon union takeover

Following an announcement that the biggest union in the Yukon had been placed into trusteeship, representatives from its parent union held a virtual town hall for members to offer an explanation and answer questions.

The new trustee and administrator – Josée-Anne Spirito and Chris Aylward – both come from the Yukon Employees' Union (YEU) parent organization, the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

The Public Service Alliance took over leadership of YEU last week after circulating an email to members saying that the Yukon union's bylaws are now suspended and the president, vice-president and directors are no longer in their positions.

Spirito said the decision to place YEU into trusteeship was not made lightly.

“This trusteeship is not the result of any one person’s actions, nor is it the result of any concern whatsoever around your union’s finances or any misappropriation of funds,” she said.

“Our work together will focus on ensuring that our union’s locals, many of which have been having difficulty meeting the basic requirements of YEU bylaw, are brought into compliance.”

She explained that Aylward’s salary is funded through YEU and her role is funded by PSAC.

Aylward told more than 100 members at the online session that he attended three executive meetings in his role as administrator, starting in March.

“We were making some small progress, and then I’m not sure what happened, but something happened in mid to late May to early June where I found myself not making any progress at all,” he said.

Aylward described “walls being thrown up” and being questioned about everything.

“I was being asked, where would I get that interpretation? Where is that written? Well, not everything is written,” he said. “Why am I doing this? Where am I getting the authority? Where am I getting that interpretation? All I was trying to do was make some positive changes.”

Aylward said the “dysfunction” was such that he could not move forward.

“[Executive members were] questioning everything to the point where administration simply couldn’t work, as much as we tried to make it work, and that’s when the trusteeship was recommended,” he said.

Aylward said he felt the trusteeship represented an opportunity to rebuild the Yukon Employees' Union.

That explanation didn’t sit right with some members, including Jessica McIntyre.

“Essentially, the main problem with the executive members that have just been thrown out is that they were asking about how things worked during administration,” she said.

"Asking a lot of questions is not bad behavior."

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A convention to select new leadership was scheduled for October, but Josée-Anne Spirito told members multiple locals have not submitted delegates and over 50 seats are vacant.

“Part of the democratic process is to ensure that our membership is represented at this event,” she said. “This is a high priority right now to figure out [if] it needs to be postponed.”

Spirito told CBC holding the town hall was one of her first steps in her new role as trustee, and town halls will continue to be held throughout the trusteeship to allow members the opportunity to ask questions and learn about the corrective measures being taken.

In the meantime, she said her focus is on getting YEU members the deal they deserve at the negotiating table.

“Bargaining will continue full steam ahead,” she said. “It continues to be a priority to YEU. It continues to be a priority to PSAC. This trusteeship will not have a negative impact on bargaining.”

Caitrin Pilkington is a reporter with CBC North in Whitehorse. She previously worked for Cabin Radio in Yellowknife. She can be reached at caitrin.pilkington@cbc.ca.